You remember that bit in Hitchhiker's Guide where Arthur Dent is explaining to the ship's onboard Nutri-matic thing (I think it was) all about what a cup of tea

You remember that bit in Hitchhiker's Guide where Arthur Dent is explaining to the ship's onboard Nutri-matic thing (I think it was) all about what a cup of tea is. After getting back many different versions of a drink that was nearly but not quite unlike tea, Arthur explained about tea leaves and climates and tea trade and tea ceremonies and on and on. I'm sure my recollection and retelling do not do it justice. My point is, what we've got now is crude visual-feature pattern matching and recognition. What you're asking for is conceptualisation. Wiring up concepts to sense-data is our trick. We are reverse engineering ourselves bit by bit. You make the next step sound so reasonable, and maybe perhaps it is.